Moonlight Bliss
by Kazie Solo
Summary: Taken from 'The Prince of Darkness' episode. Kaoru, terribly upset by Kouya's untimely departure, spends the night in the park on a wooden bench, not knowing that the person she misses the most is on his way back to her arms. *Kouya/Kaoru, COMPLETE*


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Author's Notes:I was really bummed when Kouya and Kaoru didn't hug each other at that scene where the latter returned from his adventures with Shaun and Cain, so I decided to tweak up that part a bit and write my own fanfic. So here it is, my first one-shot in the Crush Gear Turbo world --- the Takeshi/Lilika one I thought of before still has to be written. I'm apparently not in the mood at the moment to write about Takeshi after seeing the heartless thing he did to the Tobita Club at his supposed match with Kuroudo.

Anyway, this is dedicated to all the Kouya/Kaoru fans in the world! I would like to apologize, however, if this is short; for some reason I can't work one-shots out very well. Also, I'm sure you recognize the song used at the beginning of the piece, so… there. Oh, and I think it's time for me to do some advertising here. Aside from my two ongoing works (self-promotion _isn't_ bad, you know!), _Amidst the Silence_ and _Once Upon A December_, I hope you'll go read _Under the Rain_ by Klyukaizer and _Pretense_ by Hareta, which are two of my favorites. They're really good, promise. *winks*

Thanks, everyone!

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Moonlight Bliss

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Late at night when all the world is sleeping,  
I stay up and think of you,  
And I wish on a star, that somewhere you are,  
Thinking of me too…

She found herself gazing at the velvet, star-accented sky with a sad expression on her pretty, youthful face --- and she had a reason to feel that way. It had been two days, but not a single member of the Tobita Club had heard anything from or about Kouya Marino, the team's captain, who decided to go back to Japan after the overwhelming turn of events that occurred in the World Cup. "Kouya, you fool! How insensitive can you get?! Stop acting like a spoiled brat!" Kaoru Hanano, the young manager of the Tobita Club, screamed at the top of her lungs, her hands clamped into fists at her sides in frustration. She missed the lad, missed him terribly, and she could not understand how the Gear Fighter who held their team together by his_ 'All for one, one for all, for better or for worse'_ principle became the first to go against it by going his own way.

Another outcry was about to escape her, but her voice wouldn't cooperate that second time. Something was holding her back… and as she ran her hand across her face, she felt her hot tears stinging her cold skin. "Come back, Kouya. Come back," she whimpered, her eyelids falling shut as more tears flowed. She clutched the edge of the bench she was sitting on tighter, using it to support herself. Then, she shook her head furiously, a wave of questions sweeping her away. _Kami, what am I doing? Crying? Crying for a foolish boy who doesn't practice what he preaches? Sure, Marino, we'll always be together, we'll always be a team, one big happy family. Soulmates. Yeah right. And now you're gone. You left us, you left us first. How could you?! How could you do this to us, Kouya?! Where's the application of your wonderful principle now?! I don't see it anywhere!_

"Come back and show me, will you?!" she finished out loud, yelling at the solemn night sky as if it bore her friend's face. But then, she sighed, defeated, and sunk back against the wooden bench that sent chills to her body. She knew it was useless, that there was nothing she could do to change things. She didn't even understand why she was doing what she was doing in the first place. _I hate you, Kouya… I hate you for leaving. For leaving with such a stupid reason, with such a stupid excuse. For leaving me,_ she thought angrily, the silence of the park booming inside her head like a loud roar of thunder. She then wiped the tears off her eyes and prepared to leave, but for some reason, she sat back down and hugged her knees instead, as if waiting for something to happen.

She then heard someone call out her name, but she didn't flinch at all. She continued to embrace herself, rocking back and forth as if she was a baby being cuddled to sleep. The voice, however, returned a few seconds later, louder than ever before, still calling out her name. And the voice, to her utter surprise, belonged to Kouya --- or so it seemed. _Great. Now I'm losing my mind. Another reason for me to hate you, Kouya,_ she grumbled, before she lost control of herself in her irritation, holding her head and squeezing her eyes shut in hopes to shut off her thoughts and visions of him. She didn't want to think about the boy, but he kept plaguing her even in her dreams, memories of him entering her mind like a torch illuminating a pitch-black cave. And his voice, his voice that was music to her ears, continued to increase in volume

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Stop it! Why won't you go away?! Why can't I get you out of my head?! Why won't you let me be?! Leave me alone, do you hear me?! I don't need you, Kouya! I don't need you!

"Kaoru!"

Her lavish green eyes snapped open, her head swinging reflexively to the right --- just in time to see the object of her illusions approach from the dark, desolate end of the street. He continued to call out her name, causing confusion to gobble up the young woman --- what was he doing, after all?

Kouya, on the other hand, was simply overjoyed to see a familiar, friendly face. His pace immediately quickened; in fact he was running towards her in no time. He slowed down considerably, however, as the distance closed on them… and he stopped short as soon as he was directly in front of her. They were barely a meter apart from each other then. "I… I'm sorry, Kaoru," he apologized, bowing his head. "I know what I did was stupid. I'm sorry."

The anger in her eyes, the hatred she had built in the silence of the night while sitting alone on the cold wooden bench, quickly faded into oblivion at his apology. She no longer felt the chill brought about by the evening breeze and everything else that accompanied it, only the tightening feeling in her chest, almost as if she was going to explode. "Kouya, you dope…" she murmured with her eyes downcast, but almost instantly after she let those words out, she looked up at him with glistening eyes --- and flung herself into his arms, sobbing in joy. He was back, and that was all she cared about. What he did and why he did it no longer mattered to her. She was simply glad that he chose to return to them, and most importantly, return to _her_.

"Kaoru, what---" he began to complain, but he immediately cut himself off as he realized what was going on. And he decided to protest no more. Tears brimming at the edge of his expressive chestnut-colored eyes as well, he wrapped an arm around her trembling form and pulled her even closer to him, a warm feeling filling him inside out. He did not say a single word, knowing that no words could possibly convey the message he wanted to relay to her, and as the moon wrapped its silver-hued beams around the area, he just stayed there… and held her.


End file.
